United Empire Loyalists

Lord Dorchester, governor- general of British North America, proposed in 1789 to honor all those who had by their act adhered to the unity of the empire. These emigrants to British North America who came during and immediately after the American Revolution and settled in the Niagara Peninsula and in Nova Scotia were inscribed on a list and entitled to distinguish themselves by affixing the letters U.E. to their names. Under Lord Simcoe, further emigrants from the thirteen colonies came to British North America, but these are not properly called United Empire Loyalists. It is generally estimated that one-third of the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies was against the Revolution. However, no exact numbers are known for those who migrated north. A conservative estimate places the number of emigrants at the time at about 50,000. The Loyalist migrations altered the distribution of French and British in favor of the British.